Feds detail new plan of attack against Asian carp

December 16, 2010

The Obama Administration has rolled out a new federal attack plan against Asian carp, calling for more tracking and monitoring of the invasive species using controversial "environmental DNA" and developing new methods to slow or halt the fish's movement toward the Great Lakes.

In a conference call with reporters on Thursday, federal Asian carp director John Goss said the administration wants to expand testing of so-called eDNA, a widely scrutinized method of DNA collection at the center of the Asian carp debate.

Because Asian carp are difficult to catch through traditional fishing methods, biologists collect DNA samples from cells the carp leave behind in fish scales, feces and urine. Those results are then matched to DNA records that distinguish Asian carp from millions of other fish in Chicago's waterways.

The method, developed by researchers at the University of Notre Dame, is controversial because it had never been used in this way before, and because the DNA collected seemed to indicate large numbers of Asian carp had moved past the underwater electric barriers near Romeoville and were, indeed, on the doorstep of Lake Michigan.

The federal government's 2011 Asian carp attack plan will analyze and refine the eDNA collection process to better understand the results, Goss said. The plan also calls for expanding an existing research facility in LaCrosse, Wisc., for eDNA collection and analysis, as well as developing new genetic markers to more accurately and efficiently detect Asian carp populations.

To combat the Asian carp in upper stretches of the Chicago Waterways System, officials are looking at developing new biological controls, including removing carp food sources by reducing phosphorus and nitrogen discharges from wastewater treatment plants. They are also experimenting with new traps and nets designed specifically for Asian carp.

"The migration of Asian carp through the Chicago Area Waterway System, the Wabash River and the Calumet River is one of the most serious threats threatening the Great Lakes today," Goss said.

The new $47 million federal plan will be paid for primarily through money allocated in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative adopted in 2009. It's announcement comes days after President Obama signed into law a ban on bringing bighead carp, one of several varieties of Asian carp, into the U.S. Silver carp, the other variety in great abundance in the lower half of the Illinois River, is already banned.

A native of China, Asian carp have overwhelmed native fish populations by out-competing them for food in a 30-year migration up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. Many fear the carp could soon enter the Great Lakes, jeopardizing its estimated $7 billion? a year commercial and recreational fishing industry.